witnessing in our culture

Thoughts and quotes from Ed Stetzer, session 3, Breaking the Missional Code at the 2006 Reform and Resurgence Conference.

Stetzer starts with, "There is no such thing as a Christianity that exists separate from a culture, a time, a place, or a people." His goal is to address the evangelical aversion to deal with the culture and marginalize or attack those that do. He strikes a nice balance in doing that without lending credence to those that have compromised the Church and/or the Gospel over the culture. The question he challenges us with is how do we proclaim and demonstrate the unchanging Gospel in our ever changing culture?

The key is to know that the starting point of ministry is the glory and knowledge of God in Christ. Our task is to connect that to where people are within the culture. For those that God has called us to reach, we must determine what questions they asking and in that, show them that the answer is Jesus.

Stetzer used referenced the classic evangelical "pick-up line", "If you were to die tonight, would you find yourself in heaven or in hell tomorrow?" He asked how many people today still ask that question. Like the rest of the audience, I presumed no one does. I certainly didn't think I knew anyone that was asking that question. But Stetzer then introduced survey data supporting that many today still do ask that question even daily. What he learned was that whether or not someone asks that question was deeply influenced by their economic situation, geography, etc.. The point being, don't assume the questions. Be prepared in season and out of season. Take time to carefully observe the culture God has put you in and then carefully lift Him up as the answer.

When Paul arrived in Athens, Scripture tells us that he walked around looking carefully and he was deeply troubled. He didn't accept all that the culture threw at him but he took the time to understand the questions coming from the culture and used that to introduce Jesus. He didn't preach against it. He lifted up Jesus in the midst of it. This had the obvious benefit of Jesus being lifted up but also by Him being lifted up, the things that were wrong with the culture are destroyed and that which was not wrong, can remain. Too often we attack the culture rather than lifting up Jesus.

Stetzer notes, "Too many pastor's pastor in their heads rather than in their communities." The stumbling block of the cross has been replaced by the stumbling block of the church. Let's stop that and learn to hold high the standard within the culture God has put us.

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